Phase equilibria modelling and geochemistry of high‐grade gneiss from the Chhotanagpur Granite Gneiss Complex, eastern India: Implications for tectono‐metamorphic evolution

Abstract

We investigated high-grade gneiss from the Daltonganj region of the Chhotanagpur Granite Gneiss Complex (CGGC) in eastern India. EPMA monazite dating from the Daltonganj region revealed three age domains at ca. 1434, ca. 978, and ca. 850 Ma, which have been interpreted as the protolithic age and two metamorphic stages of high-grade gneisses, respectively. The Grt1 + Chl + Amp1 + Bt assemblages are thought to represent the first metamorphism as a pre-peak stage of high-grade gneiss, which could have occurred after ∼1434 Ma. The peak metamorphic stage is defined by relict porphyroblasts of orthopyroxene and garnet2 formed during ∼978 Ma in a burial process followed by an isothermal decompression or post-peak stage represented by a Crd + Grt3 + Amp3 assemblage at ∼850 Ma. The P-T conditions estimated for the pre-peak, peak, and post-peak stages using the NCKFMASH model system are 6.6-6.8 kbar/635-645°C, 8.65-9.42 kbar/772-788°C, and 5.71-6.18 kbar/745-762°C, respectively. The geochronology and metamorphic conditions define a clockwise P-T-t path for the high-grade gneiss, indicating that rocks experienced high-pressure conditions during burial metamorphism at subduction-related tectonic activity, followed by an isothermal decompression condition after the gneissic unit was exhumed. The geochemical composition of the high-grade gneiss reveals that the protolith is calc-alkaline basaltic magma formed in an island arc setting and that the restitic features of the gneisses developed after granitic melt segregation.